


Early mornings, late afternoons

by mkhhhx



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Jooheon Bingo, Journalism, M/M, Orphanage, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: Jooheon finds himself a very, very, big family.





	Early mornings, late afternoons

**Author's Note:**

> For the "journalist" square.

Jooheon enters the building, a dozen or more children playing at the spacious garden at the front and a couple adults walking around. He looks up, at the wide windows and the few plants on the windowsills, the old house well conserved. It used to belong to an old family until it was donated for its current use a couple decades ago.

He grips the camera he’s carrying and straightens his stance, climbing the few stairs to the entrance, a reception like area right in front of him.

“Hello” he greets the girl sitting behind an old, heavy looking desk, “I have a meeting with Mr. Chae.”

“Oh!” She looks up with a wide smile, “you must be Mr. Lee. Please follow me, he’s waiting for you in his office.”

Jooheon nods, following the girl at long corridors, a lot of natural light purring in. Kids are running around, some indifferent to his presence, others looking at him with curiosity. Jooheon hopes to gets close to some of them the following weeks.

“Here we are” the girl stops in front of the door and knocks, a voice from inside giving permission to go in. She opens the door to Jooheon and walks away.

He steps inside the room, his professional, small smile on his face and then his eyes fall on Mr. Chae. He’s not really how Jooheon imagined him to be. A lot younger, for sure.

“Mr. Lee” Chae extends his hand, “I’m Hyungwon, glad to meet you after all the e-mails we exchanged.”

“Call me Jooheon, please” Jooheon takes a seat after a firm, but friendly, handshake, Hyungwon at the other side of his desk sitting with his legs crossed, waiting for him to talk.

“Alright, Jooheon. So, I have a general idea about your project, but I’d like us to discuss the specifics.”

“Of course” Jooheon takes some papers out of his backpack, pushing them to Hyungwon’s side, “here I have an outline of my activities. The project is focused mostly on the kids, I want to talk to them, photograph their daily activities and write about the experience.”

“Is that something you choose to do, The whole project?” Hyungwon looks at the papers, his voice soft, like he’s used to usually talking to kids.

“Our magazine’s editor had the idea, he wanted a team of us to cover various social issues.” Jooheon had prepared a whole speech about how they should make the children’s voices heard and all that, but Hyungwon seems way more casual, so he decides to speak simply instead. “Working here, at the specific topic, was my own choice thought.”

“Is there any particular reason for your interest?” Hyungwon looks at him with soft eyes and Jooheon thinks he must be a good person, even working on a Saturday and being available to meet people.

“Actually…well my parents have told me they always wanted to adopt, even as they grew older, even more when I left the house some years ago. They have the time, the money and all the love to give, but the adoption process require so much time that makes it impossible for a lot of couples.” Jooheon clears his throat. “And that’s something that needs to change, primarily for the kids here.”

“You are right” Hyungwon nods. “More kids come every year and the government doesn’t help much, we’re mostly running on donations.”

“Maybe my article won’t make much of a difference, not right away, but it will be a good start for more people to take interest in the institution and hopefully it will be a good way to find more donators.”

“We’ll be happy to work with you, Jooheon.” Hyungwon smiles up at him. “We need these kids’ stories to be heard.”

 

They go through the papers first, Hyungwon signing where he needs to and then he takes Jooheon on a tour around the place. The orphanage is as big inside as it looks from the outside. With an two spacious gardens, dorm styled rooms, classrooms, a small infirmary and rooms made for the children to play, watch movies or do sports.

And the kids love Hyungwon, that much is obvious. As he walks with Jooheon they run up to him, just to chat about their days, hug him or ask for help with their homework.

“It’s a full time job, huh?” Jooheon asks as Hyungwon shows him the classrooms, decorated by drawings from the students.

“It’s more than that” Hyungwon exhales, “it’s more my live and less just my job.”

“That’s admirable.” Jooheon walks besides him, until they’ve made a full circle and have reached the office again.

“We’ll be seeing you a lot from Monday, then” Hyungwon leans on his office’s door.

“I’m looking forwards to it.” Jooheon smiles, before he says goodbye and heads for his car.

 

 

The rest of the weekend passes by in a flash. Jooheon informs his editor on the project, one that is gonna take up to a month and after being congratulated he spends his Sunday working on questions for the kids and the people who work at the orphanage, on a list of places and activities he wants to take photos of and even thinks of what classes or sports he wants to participate in, if he’s allowed.

He always liked kids, he enjoys spending time with them and is patient enough, or so he thinks, based on previous experience. He helped raise his little brother and he knows his parents wanted more children, as he would want siblings, even though he knew it was impossible from some point and on. That’s why he choose to work at that place where he knew most of his colleagues wouldn’t even set foot in.

Some of them have already found or started their parts for the same big project, from soup kitchens to kennels, they has a wide variety of issues to cover. As promised, each topic could take eight to ten pages in their magazine every month, which, for a journalist to write was a lot and Jooheon was more than happy to have the opportunity.

 

 

When Jooheon arrived at the orphanage on Monday morning Hyungwon was waiting at the gates for him, walking him to the kitchens and offering breakfast. Jooheon had eaten already, but he gladly accepted some coffee while Hyungwon was explaining that most of the kids were at their classes now, but they could start by visiting some of the youngest ones.

And it turns out that by “younger ones” Hyungwon basically meant babies, the kind of babies that you wouldn’t expect to see without their mothers, but for a reason or the other they ended up there. Hyungwon shared some of the stories, single mothers begging him to take their baby in and running away in the middle of the night, others just leaving the babies at their doorstep. Some lost their parents in accidents and had nobody else to take care of them. Jooheon almost felt bad being in that space, feeling like he was intruding while Hyungwon was playing with them.

“Do you spend a lot of time here?” Jooheon asked, a baby happily wrapping its chubby fingers around Hyungwon’s and laughing.

“As much as I can every day” Hyungwon answers, rocking the baby in his arms.

“They seem to recognize you.” Jooheon steps closer to the nearest crib, an infant sleeping soundly inside.

“They need human touch and affection and the two nurses we have here are just enough to feed and keep them clean.”

“Are you the only one who comes to play with them?”

“Sometimes our older kids come too, growing up here they learn from very young how to take care of each other.”

“That’s good at least.”

 

Jooheon stays until way after lunch time, Hyungwon lets the kids know why he’s there, sparing the details and they seem delighted to ask questions and Jooheon is glad they don’t seem to be wary or scared of him.

“They see the same people every day, they’re bored of us” Hyungwon explains and lets Jooheon sit with a flock of kids around him, answering questions about his work, his life, his studies, a small boy even telling him he wants to become a journalist too when he grows up.

That first day Jooheon doesn’t keep notes nor takes photos. He just asks questions back and lets the kids tell him about their favorite classes, their toys, their friends. They are a tight knit community, the older ones helping with the cooking, studying with the younger all while preparing for their universities exams.

“We’re all very proud of them” Hyungwon says, escorting Jooheon out to his car, “to be completely honest, not many of our kids make it to universities, although we do our best to cover some costs and support them the first years, most choose to work, but still we are very proud for anything they accomplish.”

“I can see they are raised with love” Jooheon answers, truthfully, maybe more love than some kids who grow up with their families, “you are lucky to have such a big, loving, family, Hyungwon.”

“They are the only family I had and still have, too.” Hyungwon says, his lips a thin like and his hands behind his back.

Jooheon thinks of that for long after he gets back to his home. That night he calls his parents just to see how they are doing.

 

 

The days are identical to each other, but not boring, nor repetitive really. Jooheon gets at the orphanage early every morning, takes his breakfast with Hyungwon at his office. Sometimes they chat, others there’s a comfortable silence between them. Then they visit the babies and the youngest kids, play all together, talk with the nurses and Jooheon thinks he’s getting better with them every day.

He even attempts to bottle feed a tiny baby girl, which ends up in a lot of dirty clothes and a mess on the floor, but both Hyungwon and the nurses tell him it’s okay and what happens more often than not.

Then, some days he joins the kids on their classes, others he roams around the corridors, taking photos and talking with the people working there. They all have interesting stories to tell and they all share one common trait, they were picked by Hyungwon himself. He is known for firing people who mistreat the kids. Only a few hadn’t been hired by him, the ones who have been working there ever since he was living in the orphanage, long before he took the managing position.

He has lunch with the kids and personnel too and then he joins them on afternoon activities. Sometimes they’ll talk, others they’ll play football, or draw when it’s raining. And he has a lot of things to learn from the kids. Sure, some are difficult, have anger issues, are too fidgety, but most of them are kind, they are caring and curious and absorb new knowledge like sponges, the way all kids do.

And by the third week Jooheon has already managed to take more than a thousand photos, write down more than a hundred different stories. He knows most of them won’t make it to the magazine, they aren’t worth publishing, but they have become a kind of personal collection and Jooheon even thinks of writing them all down at a book. He’s a journalist, not a writer, but maybe he could do that.

He has some other articles he’s writing at the same time, small ones about public events of the city, minor news and such things. He brings copies of the magazine at the orphanage one time and the kids get all excited trying to find his name between the pages. For them, he’s some kind of very famous person.

He gets closer with Hyungwon too. At those early hours before the corridors come to life and walking together to his car and all the small moments in between, Jooheon can feel something blooming. At first, it surely was admiration for the man who manages this whole place, with two hundred kids and forty employees, all by himself. After some time, the admiration is still there, but maybe there’s something more too.

 

 

At the fourth and last week of his project, Jooheon has to wrap up. He fills bits and pieces of the stories left unfinished by the kids for one reason or the other, makes sure he has photographed every corner of the orphanage and covers some extra topics suggested by his editor. And the only thing left for him to do is a final interview, one with the institution’s manager. Jooheon plans it in detail, knowing it will be the center of the article.

It doesn’t go as planned, though. Because Hyungwon doesn’t really want to share heartbreaking stories or seek pity. He politely explains the situation, how understaffed they are and how the government’s funding doesn’t cover even half of their expenses. He also talks about adoption laws and how they are always open to volunteers. He doesn’t really look like someone important, dressed in a plain shirt and jeans, but Jooheon makes sure to take a good photo of him, with his usual soft smile.

And soon Saturday comes, the last day of working on the project, as Jooheon had scheduled. Things rarely work so smoothly for journalists, but he really did make it. He spends the day playing with the kids, watching cartoons and saying goodbye to each and every one. Even gets to see the babies for some time, hoping they’ll be able to leave and be given to loving families soon.

And last is Hyungwon’s office, the very same place the project started. Hyungwon makes coffee for the both of them, like he wants to keep Jooheon around a little bit longer. And Jooheon stays, even when they say goodbye and promises to pass by with the magazine when his article is out and even when Hyungwon wishes him good luck with the rest of his work they keep talking, leaning on Jooheon’s car. And Jooheon has some things to say, but he doesn’t dare to, and when he finally leaves he thinks this couldn’t be a final goodbye.

 

 

He takes the Sunday to rest and on Monday morning he’s back at his office, his editor eager to work together, put in order all the interviews and photos and notes he has gathered so far. There’s no rush, but it’s a lot of work to do nonetheless. It’s Tuesday afternoon and Jooheon already misses playing football with the kids and trying to feed babies.

And it’s Thursday evening when he shows up at the gates of the orphanage again, holding a carton filled with children’s books and toys he found at his parents’ home.

“What a surprise” Hyungwon comes to greet him at entrance. “Do you have more work to do for the article?”

“No…”Jooheon leaves the carton at the reception as they walk to the office and Hyungwon shuts the door behind them.

“Then?” Hyungwon smiles, “what brings you here?”

“I heard you always need volunteers.”

“That, we do.”

“And also I was hoping you’d let me take you out on a date.”

Hyungwon looks at him, a small smile playing on his lips.

“That, I’ll do, too.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
